The NBA Draft is bearing down, and the Houston Rockets are the latest team to get the hots for Dwight Howard.

Wherever he ends up, whenever he gets there, it’s going to be the summer of 1975 in Orlando.

That’s the year the Milwaukee Bucks traded Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles. The Lakers ended up with five championships. The Bucks received some nice parting gifts.

Terminal mediocrity is the best any team can hope for when it deals a superstar. Though there is a less-depressing phrase fans can cling to.

“Sustainability,” Rob Hennigan said.

Orlando’s new GM uttered that word last week. It’s a key part of his grand plan to remake the Magic.

Hennigan wants to create a stupendous scouting department, develop prospects and build a consistently competitive roster. All of which is great, but it’s missing the key ingredient.

A Hall of Famer.

It’s not impossible to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy without one, but you might as well hope the tooth fairy delivers it.

The 2004 Pistons are the only championship team in the past 30 years that didn’t have at least one Hall of Famer at or near his prime. And that Detroit team still might if Chauncey Billups gets is inducted in Springfield one day. Besides Billups, the Pistons had Richard Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace, all of whom were All-Stars at some point. They also had All-Defensive NBA team player Tayshaun Prince.

The Lakers, Spurs, Bulls, Celtics, Rockets, Heat, etc., had at least one and often two or more Hall of Famers.

The Bucks’ front office knew the deal in 1975. But after six years in Milwaukee, Jabbar was tired of eating bratwurst for breakfast. He forced a trade, and the Bucks got a bunch of nice pieces for him.

Brian Winters, Elmore Smith, Junior Bridgeman and Dave Meyers made the Bucks a perennial playoff team. They did not make Milwaukee a championship team.

Howard is Jabbar without a hook shot. Surrounded with the right help, he can win titles. Orlando had seven years to do that and failed.

Maybe Hennigan can dangle a pocket watch in front of Howard and hypnotize him into forgetting the past year of acrimony. But it’s far more likely Howard will end up somewhere else, maybe in the next 72 hours.

Houston is trying to wheel and deal its way into the picture. According to ESPN, the Rockets want to acquire a couple of top-10 draft picks, which they would send to Orlando for Howard.

Players such as Andre Drummond, Dion Waiters and Damian Lillard are projected in the draft’s Nos. 5-to-10 range. Stack all those guys together, and they still don’t come up to Howard’s biceps.

If you want real help in the draft, you need a lot of luck and a top-five pick. Hennigan was a hot GM prospect because he came from Oklahoma City, and everybody raves how the Thunder have built their franchise.

They’ve done a nice job. But it helped having a No. 2 pick (Kevin Durant), a No. 3 (James Harden) and a No. 4 (Russell Westbrook). That’s how you build sustainability.

Hennigan’s best move would be to hold out for Andrew Bynum. If he got his head screwed on straight, Bynum is still young enough to have a Hall of Fame career.

After all the Howard drama, getting a bunch of fresh faces will feel good to Orlando. Getting Howard’s face is going to feel great in Houston or Brooklyn or wherever he goes.